Like a fool, when I first heard this album, I was disappointed. The title track, you see, is one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever heard. It is the third-greatest Elvis Presley recording ever and has more sheer force and energy than any other record you’re likely to hear, by any artist. Add to this the stellar funk of “If You Talk in Your Sleep” and I was hoping the rest of the record would be along these lines. When I found it wasn’t, I was bummed. And then I listened to it. It can be considered, I think, Elvis’ greatest record of Country music.

In the fall of 1973, Elvis’ health had begun to deteriorate and he had to be hospitalized in Memphis and he then convalesced at home at Graceland for a couple of months. Once he got back on his feet, he went to Stax Records, conveniently located just down the way at College and McLemore, to cut some sides. At this point, political intrigue and drama surrounding publishing rights were what had been marking recording sessions as opposed to hard, creative work resulting in great recordings. Sessions at Stax earlier in the year had gone terribly with little results deemed appropriate for release. But this time the fire was evident, Elvis was engaged and the material was a cut above.

It was typical in 1970s Elvis World for King to go into the studio and simply record as many usable masters as possible and leave the results to be sweetened with overdubs supervised by Felton Jarvis and then dispersed across unimaginatively packaged LPs by RCA. In mid-December in the studios of Stax Records in Memphis, Elvis Presley laid down a stellar batch of recordings in what would be his penultimate work in a recording studio.

The material from December of ’73 ran the gamut – also typical in Elvis World as Elvis had always recorded in a variety of styles, loving all kinds of music (“I sing all kinds”). There was an abundance of country but also some blue-eyed soul laced with funk and a few big pop vocal showpieces. The way Elvis Presley recorded songs and the way RCA released them on LPs is something we could talk about at length. Suffice it here to say that after King was done at Stax, there were plenty of songs to spread over more than one album. Sadly, things were spread thin with generally 10 songs being earmarked for an album, the records coming in at under 30 minutes. Good Times came out first, released in March of ’74, only three months after the recording sessions in Memphis. Then on Elvis’ 40th birthday – January 8th, 1975 – RCA issued Promised Land.

The album starts with the title track, released the previous fall as a single, reaching Number 14 US Pop. I have talked about this track before. It is an absolute juggernaut. Out of the gates with a bullet, the song starts with my favourite instrument, the clavinet. This keyboard here is played by the unheralded Swede Per-Erik Hallin and right from the outset is an intense urgency. King knows what is to come and urges everyone to “git on it!” and the boys fall in. All the king’s aces are in their places on the track including guitarist James Burton, and drummer Ronnie Tutt. The whole band is on fire here – Elvis’ vocal included – and they all race through a glorious three minutes of mighty rock & roll. But, if you’ll recall, this is a country record.

Troy Seals (1938-2025) wrote a few songs recorded by Presley including the second track here, “There’s a Honky Tonk Angel (Who’ll Take Me Back In)”. Originally a Number One Country hit for Conway Twitty, Elvis sounds appropriately forlorn and echoey on this track that sounds to me to be the very essence of the country music of the time. It’s lovely and sad. Yes, he’s saying that there is someone waiting in the wings – “she’s happy just holding my hand” – but he doesn’t sound like he wants this to end even if he is resigned to the finale. I have a lot of respect for Larry Gatlin but I’ll admit that it is on the strength of Elvis Presley’s versions of his songs, the devastating “Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall” and one that Kristofferson made famous, “Help Me”. It’s the latter that is up next on Promised Land and RCA released it as a single, hitting the Top Ten on the US Country charts. This country gospel song that is a plea to God for aid is especially poignant in Presley’s hands and one can’t help but think that he took the sentiment seriously at the time. “Lord, help me walk another mile, just one more mile, I’m tired of walking all alone…you know I just can’t make it on my own”; that’s heavy coming from Elvis Presley in his final years.

I will always love Donnie Sumner for his spellbinding rendition of “The Lighthouse” captured in Elvis on Tour and for writing the heartbreaking “I Miss You”. He also penned the pleasant “Mr. Songman” that follows “Help Me”. King’s vocal on the chorus is shadowed nicely by the background singers and the chord changes on the verses are pleasant. There is a poignancy also in Donnie’s words, particularly “memory’s not reliving but at least it’s not the end” that speaks to the idea that a person, a place or a circumstance may be gone but memory can keep it alive. This is a simple, quick song and, again, pure country. Chris Christian is aptly named. A legend in the gospel and Christian music arena, is remains a mogul of the first order. Early in his career, Elvis recorded his song “Love Song of the Year” that ends the first side of our record. Its a finely polished addition to this album, a gentle song with a clever lyric. Sublime background vocals here.

The second side starts off with a tune co-written by Jerry Chesnut who wrote a few fine tunes that King recorded. “It’s Midnight” is heartbreaking. I included it on my first list of the best Presley songs you’ve never heard and I’ll quote myself; “another song of hurt and torment. The lyrics tell of a man lost, fearing the night time; ‘it’s getting late and I know that’s when I am weak…I ought to go to bed and try to straighten out my head and just forget you. But it’s midnight and I miss you‘”. I also noted that the single release of “Promised Land” with “It’s Midnight” on the flip has got to be one of Presley’s best 45s of the 70s. I’m seldom wrong and right again. “Your Love’s Been a Long Time Coming” is more straight ahead country and Elvis emotes well on the chorus, singing the song exceptionally well throughout.

Ain’t it funny? Presley was saddled with some poor songs throughout the Sixties in particular but country boy and “bodyguard” Red West batted a thousand when he took it into his head to write a tune. Elvis recorded about a half-a-dozen songs co-wrote by Red and there was not a dog in the bunch. Red co-wrote the killer “If You Talk in Your Sleep” with Johnny Christopher who also wrote only a handful for King, but all great. This track pairs with the title track as the two non-country songs on this LP and this one is a funk workout. Dig how it starts – with a slow, smouldering groove and check out that horn chart, more clavinet and stone cold background vocals. Strings used well, too. Not really much to say about “Thinking About You” but that is not to say that it is not incredibly vibrant and warmly pleasant. Just a tidy little song to be included here. Another textbook country song is the closer, penned by Waylon Jennings. “You Asked Me To” boasts a lovely chorus – “let the world call me a fool” – during which the rhythm section lays down a hillbilly heartbeat; work the likes of which can be heard on scores of country songs. The pianist, one of my favourite session men, David Briggs, employs a sterling left hand during James Burton’s guitar solo.

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Promised Land was a successful album, well received, and it topped the Country charts. Only four months later came Elvis Presley’s next album, the excellent Today and this release would represent the last work that Presley ever did inside a recording studio. As his health began to deteriorate, so did his desire to work and he would only record again in the comfort of his home – to exemplary results, by the way.

As much as I roll my eyes at the way RCA handled the king’s releases, I’ve got to admit that the country-flavoured program presented here is spot on and it benefits from the inclusion of the rock & roll powerhouse title track and the funky groove of Red’s “If You Talk in Your Sleep”. It is worth noting – and it pleases me to say – that despite the vagaries of his career path, the changes in his music and music in general and his declining health in the last years of his life, Elvis Presley was always able to deliver the goods. He released great albums and spectacular product all through his 20-year career with really no prolonged valleys. Few other artists can claim the same.

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Promised Land (APL1-0873 – 1975) – from RCA Victor

Produced by Felton Jarvis

Side One: “Promised Land”, “There’s a Honky Tonk Angel (Who’ll Take Me Back In)”, “Help Me”, “Mr. Songman”, “Love Song of the Year”

Side Two: “It’s Midnight”, “Your Love’s Been a Long Time Coming”, “If You Talk in Your Sleep”, “Thinking About You”, “You Asked Me To”

Elvis Presley, lead and harmony vocals // And featuring James Burton, lead guitar // Johnny Christopher, rhythm guitar // Charlie Hodge, rhythm acoustic guitar // Norbert Putnam, bass guitar // David Briggs, piano, Hammond organ // Per-Erik “Pete” Hallin, clavinet, piano // Ronnie Tutt, drums // JD Sumner & the Stamps, backing vocals // Voice, backing vocals // Kathy Westmoreland, backing vocals // Dennis Linde, guitar

Recorded at Stax, Memphis, Tennessee